ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN..........

I love it a poet!!! and what you say is so true. Yes I know the feeling well. Especially when the children accuse you of not throwing back their balls!!!
A please and thank you would be nice I told a boy last year " just give me my ball back misses" he said blomming cheek!! My dad said once to put a hole init. I am not that upset!!

The parents dont seem to mind either do they...... after asking my neighbour to stop his children kicking there balls over... he just said he would not stop his children playing in the garden....... even though thers no room to kick a ball about in....... and as you say they expect it straight back..... without a thought to the damage done.......

Yes i would be very upset aswell, the house next to me is private rented and i've had folks with kids that dont care about other folkes property, but touch wood this last lot of tenents are great, and no children with balls either.

i get the same holly from next door, footballs , golf balls, all sorts and get fed up, you should have seen how many we found while digging new area, all went in bin im affraid, have you a word with parents, i would, if that dont work then stick a knife in them,,, the balls i mean lol

Oh, Holly I sympathise so much...
I have a different problem in my gardens from my neighbours and they don't care that they are causing great stress to me....

Ideas for [legal] retaliation very welcome PLEASE... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TT a couple of years ago I had students living next door ( not very nice students) they rent their hse out and have done for years. I constantly had beer bottles, wine bottles, splifts, even trainers thrown over my fence!! Called the police they didnt want to know; they told me to call the council. I had to write a diary of events for months and months but eventually the council did something about it!! If they cause affence to others as well get a pertition up and give it into the council. Write to your MP make them earn their money!!! This sort of thing really makes my blood boil. Why just can't people be nice and respect each other. I know what your going through and its not nice. Hope everything turns out well for you. Sorry everyone for ranting on but I've been there!!!

if you have talked to neighbours and asked pollitly and nothing done, then you can get a solicitors letter sent to them, that sometimes works, or the police,
we dont have to put up with bad neighbours now, things can be done to stop them even if they own their home,its all to comman these days Terra x

Thank you both for your support and suggestions.. The problem has been making me feel quite ill for some time now... but I don't want to be specific about it on GoY.

thats understandable Terra, i do hope you find an answer soon, but dont just put up with it for your own health, to many get away with these awfull things x

Thank you. xxx

and Holly, YES... this definitely is a gardening blog...!!!

If all else fails ~sit out with your cd player/radio and play music they will hate~assuming the teenagers are into pop music try~massed Scottish pipers, brass bands,classical. opera .abba mama mia wind chimes etc ?you can of course retreat indoors....manure on your borders jeyes fluid or similar down your drain.?...

we have this problem too as the teenage lads play football in the cul-de-sac usually my part of the street. Not outside their own homes as their parents dont want the noise. I confiscate balls if they come in and say when their parents come back and ask for them I will provide them with the ball and the bill for plant replacement.

Had one dispute for about 2 weeks but won in the end. He called the police saying I had stolen it. when they arrived it was in a carrier bag with a bit of paper saying the date collected from the garden and 'not returned as not sure which boy it belonged too'. Damaged plant replacement cost etc. Police officer laughed and went down to the family and pointed out I had not stolen it nor intended to keep it I was just waiting for some maturity and commonsense from the family. There is a playing field 1/4 mile away and he suggested they use it or run the risk of being charged with criminal damage.

the wife called to appologise for the stupid behaviour of her kids and hubby, but felt powerless to tell her boys how to behave now they were teenages. !

Some good ideas there Arlene :o)

Bad neighbours are a pain. I've had footballs and even had the back gate broken open to retrieve them while I was working. My pet hate at my previous house was cigarette ends thrown over the fence, one landing on me while I was weeding. Needless to say I threw it straight back and did receive an apology. Silly thing was, the people were pleasant enough, just thoughtless.

Hope you can resolve the issue, Holly, and you too, TT.

Oh Holly, I've had almost 20 years of footballs, cricket balls, tennis balls, volley balls etc. flying over from my inconsiderate, ignorant neighbours. 3 sons now in their 20's and still it happens, father a PE teacher and therefore the footballs are proper, heavy ones that thud, thud, thud, I agree the problems start as soon as the weather improves. They've progressed recent summers to sitting in the garden til the early hours, playing music with a smokey fire burning. No chance of having our bedroom windows open. At least the drums, guitars etc (amplified) have stopoed in the garage.

Yes some good ideas, Oh my goodness that rose bush you have has enormous thorns on it.......doesn't it. What a pity the ball always falls on it ;-)) As for Arlene's idea. I could recommend Mussorgsky's Night on a bare mountain

I hope all of you with neighbour problems can get them sorted. It seems that it is always the nice neighbours who move away, but the horrible ones stay put. Lovely people across the road from me moved house last week. I pray the nasty neighbours will go away....!!!!!!!!!!! ...... :o(

Well Hollyeves, You have to be very carefull when it comes to the problem that you are having. My advice to you is to take the balls to a police station DO NOT KEEP THEM or you can be charged for theft. When they come to claim them......tell them were they are and see if THEY LIKE THE INCONVIENIENCE of having to go to get them back. I think they OR their parents will soon get fed up with the situation and you will be in the clear.
Also the police will have a record of the way you are being treated !!!!!!!!
I hope this is of some use to you best of luck to you.

Having read all the comments brought back memories from 15 years ago, my son was studying for GCSE's in the evenings, we had a 'rock band' renting the adjoining house, guitars playing into the early hours as they slept most of the day. To cut a long story short, Environmental Health set up a decibel reading meter on a tripod in our house, we kept a 'noise diary ', the case was due in court and they moved away the week before! Result good for moving, bad for us not having the satisfaction of a court case! I'll get off my soap box now.
We have moved to a detached place and have wonderful neighbours on either side. : o ) ) ) )

I'm very lucky as I've never had neighbour problems but I do understand what a serious problem it is. It can cause genuine illness. The trouble is that the law (by default) in an the side of the inconsiderate morons who cause the problem. The police will say 'they are too busy' but if you told them that your neighbor was peeping at your child through a hole in the fence, or that you are one of an 'ethnic minority' a squad car would arrive before you put the phone down.

The little boy next door to me always appologises when his ball comes over. He shouts from behind the fence 'Sorry Hywel My ball has come over again. I do try not to do it ' lol - I tell him 'Never mind. I can use the broken bits as cuttings ' :o) Fortunately no ornaments etc have been smashed so far.
Our ball went in neighbours gardens when we were kids so I think i have to put up with it.

Sounds like you have a young neighbour who is trying to be considerate, Hywel, and it works both ways as you're an understanding neighbour too :)
Your comments made me realise how grumpy I often was, on returning from work, which probably didn't help the situation. I consider myself very lucky now as don't have many problems.

i must say my neighbours son always knocks and asks to get his ball and is pollite to, but i still hate it coming over lol

HI everyone...... Thanks for all your comments.... i was in two minds if i had done the right thing putting the blog on here but i was so furious when i came back from mums... and my son said the balls are back in the garden, i couldnt beleive it..... id only been out a couple of hours.... gardeniing is hard for me now as i have lung and muscle problems.... but i love doing it and usually pay for it the next day...... i live with my son who has a mild learning dissability and he loves garden and wildlife photography.....and helps me in the garden.... not having a man about the house you can feel vunerable when the neighbours do something you dont like...........i also keep an eye on my 84 year old mum who lives a 20 min walk away......
sorry thats my ranting over.....lol
i had so many balls over one year i told our local community support officer... and he said by law you have to give them back.... i now wait till they come and knock on the door for there balls.......
my neighbours boys are teenagers now so i hope they wont be so bad this year......
Sorry TT to hear of your troubles.....i would try to do something back to them to see how they like it......oh woudnt it be nice if we could all lift our houses and move in near each other.... a g o y housing estate for gardeners.... no footballs tennis rackets golf balls etc allowed...... : O ))
sorry to be so moany

and do hope you all have a nice easter break.Holly

You're not moaning Holly. It's distressing when someone annoyes you. My friend gets trouble with her neighbours and it can really get you down. I'm just lucky where I live :o)

Ahhhh thanks Hywel.......i think it does you good to write things down and get it off your chest....

I know how you feel, Holly, as I used to feel the same each day when I came home from work and found several balls in the gardens and plants broken down. It seems never ending but it did get better albeit slowly. Hope things improve for you. You do have to return the balls but can do so at your convenience; I learnt to make them wait until I had been in the shower and had a meal as well :)

Hope the weather is kind to you over Easter. Sunshine and showers here this morning.

Thanks Gee...... just cloudy here...garden to wet to plant today as it rained in the night again.....